What happened to the French woman found drained of her blood in an Italian church? The theories, explained

A 22-year-old French woman was found dead in an abandoned church in Italy, with multiple stab wounds and gunshots in her neck and abdomen. A ritual murder, or a TikTok stunt gone horrifically wrong? These are the questions Italian investigators faced when trying to understand the strange circumstances surrounding Auriane Nathalie Laisne‘s death.

According to the Daily Mail, Laisne hailed from a small town near Lyon, France, and was traveling in Italy’s Aosta Valley with her boyfriend, 21-year-old Egyptian Italian Teima Sohaib. Witnesses saw Laisne and Sohaib together just hours before she died. According to witnesses, Laisne was “very beautiful, but suffering, emaciated,” and she looked like a “walking corpse,” another witness said.

Sohaib, meanwhile, had olive skin and dark curly hair and showed no signs of violence. They had recently inquired in a nearby town about good places to camp. “They were dressed like two Goths … Like those boys who venerate death. I thought: two vampires,” one witness added.

Who found Auriane Laisne?

Reportedly, the abandoned church where Auriane Laisne was discovered was not a tourist attraction, and was located in a remote area only about an hour from Lyon across the Italian border. A hiker found Laisne’s body in a fetal position, wearing leggings, a sweatshirt, and a coat. Pink Marshmallows and groceries were also found near Laisne, and it’s widely reported her body was “drained of blood.” Signs indicated some of the blood had been cleaned up off the church floor, according to CNN. Laisne was stabbed with a camping knife and possibly shot after she died. There were no signs of struggle, authorities said.

Why did Auriane Laisne die?

At first, investigators speculated that Auriane Laisne and Teima Sohaib may have participated in a TikTok ghosthunting challenge popular in France. It may have also been a “consented murder” or ritual sacrifice, according to Italian authorities. In the days after Laisne’s body was found, Sohaib was arrested in Lyon on suspicion of murder. Laisne had accused Sohaib of domestic violence in France and had a restraining order against him, police said.

Otherwise, Sohaib’s motive for allegedly murdering Laisne or why they were traveling together in Italy was unclear. Laisne had told her family she planned to find a “haunted house believed to contain ghosts,” according to Business Insider. Speaking with the outlet, a TikTok spokesperson denied there was any evidence Laisne’s death was connected to the platform.

After Sohaib was in custody, Italian investigators called Laisne’s murder a “classic femicide motivated by motives of possessiveness and control over the victim’s will,” according to the New York Post.